For many years, accusations of sexual exploitation and abuse of women by United Nations peacekeepers have cast a shadow on United Nations. Every case of abuse of the local population diminishes the credibility of the missions and undermines the principles that underpin their deployment. It is only in the last thirty years that the international community has begun to pay more attention to the protection of women in armed conflict. Women today enjoy protection under international humanitarian law, human rights law and international criminal law. At least in theory, their rights are being sufficiently protected. Peacekeeping operations in Cambodia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in Haiti are examples of how the very presence of peacekeepers can contribute to the spread of human trafficking activities, forced prostitution, sexual assaults and sexually transmited diseases. The United Nations is working to solve the problem. Despite many measures being taken (especially to protect women against sexual exploitation and violence), the number of allegations does not seem to subside. The process of establishing criminal liability of the accused remains complex, non-transparent, and inefficient. The master's thesis draws attention to the conceptual shortcomings of the existing regulation and tries to offer potential solutions to the otherwise multifaceted problem.
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